


Heat Seeking

by aretia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 15:40:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11084685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/aretia
Summary: Shiro and Ulaz get stranded in the rain, which poses a threat to Ulaz's health.





	Heat Seeking

**Author's Note:**

> For Uliro Week day 4 danger/shelter and day 5 sick/healing

“You want me and Ulaz to go on this mission alone?” Shiro asked.

“What, don’t think you can handle it?” Lance teased.

“Of course we can handle it, but shouldn’t we all go together, just to be safe? I don’t see why we should split up the group unless it’s absolutely necessary—”

“Shhh, shhh, it’s very important that just the two of you go,” Allura insisted, shoving Shiro’s arm and barely containing a grin. “And we need it done right now, so hurry to the hangar! Your lion awaits you!”

Shiro sighed and shared a weary glance with Ulaz. They walked slowly to the hangar, while Lance and Allura fled in the opposite direction, giggling. Those two were always up to something, so Shiro didn’t think too much of it, and prepared to come back to a castle wrecked by some kind of prank. 

The mission was to investigate an abandoned Galra information hub on a forest planet. They arrived in the middle of a hurricane. Shiro thought he would be able to pilot his lion against the winds, but she suddenly went into power reserve mode and had barely enough energy to maneuver out of the storm clouds and onto the surface of the planet. The Black Lion was unresponsive when they landed, so they got out onto the ground. They were soaked to the bone by the time they found shelter in a cave. Shiro made a small fire and was attempting to use it to dry off his clothes. 

“Lance would like it here. He likes rain,” Shiro remarked.

“The blue paladin does have a way of making the best of situations,” Ulaz agreed from his position at the back of the cave, farthest from the howling wind outside. He was also distant from the fire, and still wearing his drenched uniform. Ulaz rested his back against the cold cave wall and folded his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees. He placed his head between his knees. It was odd to see the towering Galra curl up like that and make himself look so small. 

“Is everything alright, Ulaz?” Shiro queried.

“Fine,” Ulaz replied tersely, tucking himself further into his knees and into the wall. 

Shiro crept over to where Ulaz was sitting and placed his hand on Ulaz’s cheek. Ulaz hissed at him and he withdrew his hand, startled, but he was just as alarmed by the fact that Ulaz’s skin was almost as cold as the stone floor. “Are you… are you cold?”

“No,” Ulaz lied, childishly. 

“Come on. Sit by the fire and warm up,” Shiro pleaded, tugging on Ulaz’s arm.

“No. Can’t move,” Ulaz rasped in a small voice. 

“Why not?” Shiro said, concerned.

Ulaz only whimpered in response.

Shiro didn’t want to violate Ulaz’s privacy like this, but he didn’t know what else to do. He wrapped his arms around Ulaz. He was surprised when Ulaz didn’t refuse the touch like he had the first time, but actually pulled Shiro into his lap and hugged him back. _Oh._ Shiro hadn’t been prepared for this. He just wanted to help him get warm, but this seemed intimate. Ulaz nuzzled his face into the elbow of Shiro’s robot arm, because it was warmer than the rest of his body. Shiro was thankful for that, because it meant Ulaz wasn’t looking at his face and how bright red it was.

Ulaz soon recovered enough to explain, unprompted, why he quite literally froze up. “Galra are supposed to have a high core temperature. Most of them have very thick fur to accomplish that. But I’m not full Galra. I don’t know what I’m mixed with, but clearly it’s a species that doesn’t grow much fur.” He stroked his nearly bald head self-consciously. “Once my thin fur gets wet, all I can do is go into a hibernation coma and hope I wake up from it.”

“That’s dark, Ulaz,” Shiro commented, and he was one to talk. Ulaz shrugged. “Wait a minute. You’re still wet. We need to get you dried off.”

“I don’t see how we’re going to do that—” Ulaz started to say when Shiro was already digging through his survival backpack. He pulled out a towel—because what self-respecting space explorer from Earth would go on a mission without a towel?—and tossed it to Ulaz. Ulaz quizzically dabbed at his arm with it. For a moment Shiro thought Galra didn’t know what towels were, but then he noticed it just wasn’t getting his shirt dry in the slightest.

“Maybe it would work better if you…” Shiro gulped. He didn’t know how to say this without sounding like he was propositioning him. He turned away from Ulaz as the blush flared in his cheeks again and he said, “Take off your clothes? I won’t look.” 

“I suppose that is an option,” Ulaz said, and Shiro heard the sharp hum of a zipper. While Ulaz was undressing, Shiro busied himself with pulling the sleeping bag out of his bag and unrolling it. He was grateful that his Garrison training had led him to pack all of this equipment for their trip, since it ended up saving Ulaz from hypothermia. However, his training also meant that he got it ready too quickly. He was left sitting and staring at the unrolled sleeping bag while he still heard the sound of rustling fabric behind him. He dared a tiny peek over his shoulder. He was lucky that Ulaz was facing the wall, and he caught a glimpse of Ulaz’s muscled back and—he turned his head before he saw anything else. That image was already enough to overwhelm Shiro’s thoughts for a decade.

Ulaz whimpered again, and Shiro realized that he was probably standing naked in the cold air, which was the opposite of helpful for what they were trying to do. The thought was also concerning for other reasons, but Shiro pushed those aside and shoved the sleeping bag behind him. Ulaz figured out what to do with it easily enough. Shiro turned around and saw Ulaz bundled up in the sleeping bag like a purple worm, and he had to stop himself from physically clutching his heart. Ulaz sat up with his knees curled to his chest again and pouted.

“Are you still cold?” Shiro asked.

Ulaz made a noncommittal noise. 

“Uh, how about I make you some tea?” Shiro said. He pulled a metal thermos out of his seemingly infinite bag. He figured warming it up over the fire would take too long so he just activated his glowing hand for a second and handed the piping hot thermos to Ulaz.

“You don’t have to do that,” Ulaz said.

“I don’t have to? What an interesting piece of information,” Shiro hummed. “I’m going to anyway, so you can be quiet and drink your tea.”

Ulaz unscrewed the lid and reluctantly took a sip. “Now I understand that odd nickname the paladins have for you,” Ulaz muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.” 

Ulaz took a few long sips and passed the thermos back to Shiro. He looked warm and comfortable and happy, a slight tinge of a smile appearing at the corner of his usually scowling mouth. 

Shiro tore his gaze away from Ulaz and checked his communicator. “Still no response from the castle,” he reported. “The signal is fine, they just… haven’t responded. They must be dealing with a tough situation too. I wish we were there to help them.”

“They will be fine on their own,” Ulaz reassured him. 

“I guess so,” Shiro said. “It might be a while before they come and get us or the Black Lion decides to work again. Should we get some rest?”

Ulaz nodded in agreement. Ulaz lay down in the sleeping bag and Shiro lay beside him on the floor, the fire crackling behind them. 

“You need anything else?” Shiro asked.

Ulaz frowned. “It’s not fair that I’m in your sleeping bag and you’re on the floor.”

“It’s fine,” Shiro insisted. “You’re the one who nearly froze to death. And besides… you aren’t wearing clothes.”

“But I’m still cold,” Ulaz declared. That was the secret weapon. Once he said that, Shiro didn’t have a choice but to climb into the sleeping bag beside him. Ulaz wrapped his arms and legs around Shiro, enveloping him to try to absorb as much of his warmth as he could. With both of them squeezed into a sleeping bag meant for one human-sized person, it got pretty cozy indeed, not least of all because Shiro felt like he was developing a fever from being pressed against a naked Ulaz. He tried not to think too hard about whatever a Galra had going on down there, or give into the temptation to figure it out by peeking or touching.

“Ulaz?” Shiro whispered. “You know, if you want…” 

He was answered with a deep purr. Ulaz, finally warm and at ease, had given in to the exhaustion that the cold shock had caused him and fallen right asleep. Shiro absently traced his hand over the fine fur on Ulaz’s chest, feeling the purr vibrate through Ulaz’s entire body. Shiro nestled his head against Ulaz’s collarbone and closed his eyes, thinking that maybe getting stranded on a cold and rainy planet wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to them.


End file.
